1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to an infant carrier and, more particularly, to an infant carrier which is outfitted with a cinchable sleeve adapted to allow for varying degrees of adjustability to the effective width of the seat portion of the carrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is common practice for parents and other caregivers to carry infants and toddlers, and there is a variety of well-known infant carrier products in the prior art which are configured to be worn by an adult for on-the-body carrying of the infant or toddler. These products include slings, wraps, pouches, and backpack-like devices outfitted with shoulder strap devices in varying configurations and arrangements. Shoulder-supported infant carriers are particularly growing in popularity for supporting or transporting an infant or young child. A common attribute of these carriers is that they typically offer “hands free” operation, and allow the adult wearer to carry the infant while performing other activities. Therefore, shoulder-supported infant carriers typically provide immediate benefits to the parent/caregiver, including the freedom to use both hands while monitoring and caring for the child being carried. Care may be provided to other children simultaneously, strain and fatigue on the arms, back, and shoulders may be reduced, and household chores may be completed while monitoring the child. Moreover, cumbersome and bulky strollers need not be deployed in places such as crowded city sidewalks and public transportation systems.
Shoulder supported infant carriers, as currently known in the art, come in a wide range of designs and styles. One currently known infant carrier is a frame-type carrier which typically supports the infant on the back of the wearer. Currently, more popular than frame-type carriers, are frameless or soft-sided carriers which typically provide more comfort to the wearer and the infant.
Although soft-sided carriers have become a popular means for transporting an infant, most soft-sided carriers suffer from one or more drawbacks. For instance, one common drawback associated with conventional soft-sided carriers is that the seat portion of the carrier is of a fixed size. Therefore, as the infant grows, the seat portion of the carrier may become too small, or when the infant is young, the seat portion of the carrier may be configured to support a larger infant, and thus, may be too big. Furthermore, the fixed nature of the seat portion on conventional infant carriers may limit the adaptability achievable by the infant carriers, i.e., the infant carrier may not be easily or comfortably adaptable in both front carry and rear carry configurations.
Though various attempts have been made in the prior art to address the aforementioned drawback, the seat portion adjustability solutions that have been arrived at to date suffer their own drawbacks. In greater detail, in many carriers providing adjustability in the width of the seat portion, such adjustability is facilitated by the selective folding and unfolding of flaps. Typically, when the flaps are folded and thus not deployed, they overlap other portions of the carrier, resulting in the seat portion being at its minimal available width. Conversely, the unfolding of the flaps and attachment thereof to prescribe portions of the carrier effectively maximizes the available width of the seat portion. However, the manipulation of the flaps between their stowed and deployed states is typically a cumbersome task, with there being virtually no available measure of width adjustability of the seat portion between the two extremes achieved when the flaps are either stowed or deployed. The infant carrier described below addresses this drawback through its inclusion of a cinchable sleeve adapted to allow for varying degrees of adjustability to the effective width of the seat portion of the carrier in a quick and easy manner. These and other aspects of the present infant carrier will be discussed in more detail below.